To Hit Hard, To Survive the End Game

There is a nice symmetry in the list, with two X-Wing aces at 38 points and two Bandits, who generally serve to purpose of being a nuisance to my opponent.

Though the two X-Wing aces cost me the same amount of points, they fly very differently on the table.

Wedge Antilles is not nearly as survivable as Poe Dameron. He rarely survived the games.

He did deal massive amounts of damage and I was really, really positively surprised with the BB-8 + Push the Limit combination. I knew it was good. I didn’t know how good. It makes the X-Wing extremely maneouverable (for an X-Wing) and allowed Wedge Antilles to deliver his trademark killer-attacks right where he needed them to be. With or without Wedge Antilles, this is a combination I will certainly use again (with a T-70 X-WingRed Squadron Veteran or even Poe Dameron himself).

Poe Dameron in this build was the exact opposite to Wedge Antilles, as far as X-Wing-builds go. With Autothrusters, re-rolls from Lone Wolf and the ability to regenerate shields, he was meant (and usually was) built for the end game, the last ship on the table, where he excelled at wars of attrition.

Again, I am happy to report that Poe Dameron served excellently in this faction.

In one game, circling with an equally mobile and nearly as robust IG-88 Aggressor, I was able to wear my opponent down through many, many turns of shooting and shield-regenerating.

It wasn’t the finest game of X-Wing ever played, but it shows Poe Dameron’s potential for the long game, assuming he does not die early in the game to a concentrated barrage.

Final Thoughts?

Did I win the tournament?

No. I was beaten soundly by a Scum-&-Villainy-Swarm full off M3-A Interceptors and only just managed to eke out a small, technical victory by points against a Squadron of Y-Wings with Twin Laser Turrets and Corran Horn in an E-Wing.

That said, both X-Wing were tons of fun to fly. They were also effective in their own right and complemented each other well.

A fun list, and I will definitely fly something along those lines again!

I made the following Rebels X-Wing list and took it for a game at the club. This is clearly not a tournament list or anything of this sort. The idea here was to fill the list with as many of the new Episode VII Rebels toys from the starter as possible.

I played against an Imperial squadron of elite pilots in nimble, arc-dodging ships, including Echo (TIE-Phantom) and Carnor Jax (TIE-Interceptor).

This three-part series will detail my thoughts on

Poe Dameron and the T-70 X-Wing

Tycho Celchu with Wired

The Rookie Pilot with BB-8

Poe Dameron and the new T-70 X-Wing

The Logic behind this Build

Poe Dameron presented a bit of a conflict for me.

One one hand, I wanted to test/get the most out of his pilot ability. An obvious, often recommended synergy is his ability with R5-P9, who allows Poe Dameron to use his „saved“ focus token to regain shield at the end of each turn.

One the other hand, I also wanted to try the new Tallan Roll of the T-70 X-Wing, a red maneuver that prevents the focus action (and doesn’t sit well with abilities like Push the Limit). I opted for Adrenaline Rush to have it both ways in one turn.

My Thoughts after Playing

Tallan Roll: The Tallan Roll is by far my favourite novelty of the T-70 X-Wing. It allowed Poe Dameron to keep slippery Imperials like Echo in his sights, allowed him to dodge Carnor Jax and his deadly short-range fire and kept my opponent on edge.

Part of the maneuvers appeal may be its novelty, which may wear off as people get used to it, start predicting it, but so far I am loving it.

Doing the Tallan Roll just once with an Adrenaline Rush was definitely not enough and I played the maneuver a few more times, stress or no stress, for good results.

R5-P9: I was less impressed with R5-P9, despite the obvious synergies. I believe I only used the droid to repair a shield once in the game.

Partly, this was due to the repeated Tallan Rolls, which denied Poe Dameron a focus token in the first place, which in turn was possibly a result of flying against a squadron of nimble arc-dodgers.

I can see how Poe Dameron’s pilot ability and R5-P9 could work a lot better, especially against less agile ships, especially those with a turret.

It just has not worked for me like this in practice.

Final Thoughts

The T-70 X-Wing, Poe Dameron in particular, represent a bit of a conundrum:

Should I equip Poe Dameron for resilience, using focus, in ability and a suitable astromech to keep him healthy?

Or should I play him for maneuverability, getting the most out of Tallan Rolls and boost actions to dance around asteroids or enemy ships?

Flying an X-Wing like a far more nimbler ship is certainly fun, and the pay-off for a well-placed maneuver with an X-Wing is nothing to sneeze at, even if Poe Dameron may not by the wisest T-70 X-Wing pilot to choose for this approach.

The former, more tanky approach might prove to be the more reliable one, especially if ships like the VT-49 Decimator or YT-2400 are on the table.

It is a tricky choice, but arguably also a sign of excellent game-design behind this ship.

The Wave 7 ships for the X-Wing miniatures game are out, including the new K-Wing bomber for the Rebels.

It is easily my favourite among the new ships, both because I have a soft spot for the Rebels and because its Imperial counterpart, the TIE-Punisher, feels too close to the TIE-Bomber, visually and in the game.

So my K-Wing is ordered and should arrive soon. Time to try flying the new Rebel bomber in a tournament. But what kind of list would work?

K-Wing Star Pilot – Miranda Doni

Miranda Doni appears to be the pilot of choice in most ideas for K-King lists. It’s not hard to see why:

Her abilitiy to spend shields to up the damage makes her an excellent weapons platform.

Her ability to regenerate shields by trading in damage dice makes her an excellent end-game-pilot, doubly so given the K-Wing’s turret.

This in mind, here is a fully souped-up Miranda Doni-build I want to try.

It may be a bit much (47 points in a ship), but I hopefully get to try all the different K-Wing tricks and new toys.

A Homing Missile with 5 dice (with Miranda spending a shield) and no evade tokens? Ouch!

Double-tap Laser Turrent with double Focus tokens? A nice end game, allowing Miranda to generate a shield each turn and still deal reasonable damage.

Airen Cracken & the Bandit Wingmen

Miranda is made for end game wars of attrition (I believe).

The rest of my list is made to get her there and eliminate the kind of threads that could take her out with concentrated fire.

Going with the missile-theme, these three z-95 Headhunters, complete with Airen Cracken and his useful lend-others-an-action-ability should provide both an early-game punch to take out a thread quickly and leave me with a few blockers to make life hard for anyone chasing Miranda.

Z-95 – Airen Cracken (19) with Cluster Missiles (4)

Z-95 – Bandit Squadron Pilot (12) with Ion Pulse Missiles (3)

Z-95 – Bandit Squardon Pilot (12) with Advanced Homing Missiles (3)

Missiles in a Tournament? Can it work?

Conventional wisdom has it, missiles and torpedos in X-Wing are rarely worth it, especially in tournaments.

The K-Wing and TIE-Punisher seems largely designed around trying to change that, and with upgrades such as Extra Munititions, they at least get a few more shots.

This list likely isn’t going to win … say .. a regional championship, but with a heavy alpha punch and a solid end-game plan, I am interested to find out what the K-Wing can bring.